Help from the experts!
Our small volunteer fire department has 2 Mavic-3 (original model) drones and chose the RC-Plus controller from eBay.
I know…. The Plus is not compatible with “Fly” app and the Mavic-3.
These 2 controllers were “modified” and came from a Chinese eBay seller that no longer exists on eBay.
They seemed perfect for us. We had a zero budget, yet we wanted the large & bright display, etc..
ESPECIALLY the removable antennas which allow easy mounting of the Alientech antenna/amp system. We took up a collection among the drone folk on the department and were able to buy the two controllers at a cost of $850@. I did see they are selling for less now.
The dilemma?
As many here have mentioned, the firmware must not be updated or it becomes unusable.
I’m guessing the “modification” was to flash the controller with the RC-Pro firmware, allowing the “Fly” app to run properly.? Under the settings for the controller, it indicates it is an RC-Pro .
Well, the RC-Plus controllers were working perfectly UNTIL the “Firmware Update Available - Click to install”.
I will confess… it was me.
I clicked it out of habit.
Now the controller will boot up and load the “Fly” app, but it won’t bind to any of our drones or my personally owned Air-
2s and Mavic-3 Pro.
Additionally, the far left battery LED flashes alternating red and yellow.
The RC-Plus runs Android 10 according to the settings info.
Before becoming unreachable, the eBay seller wouldn’t provide any info and stated: “you were warned not to update FW”.
We were desperate to get it functioning again because we only had an old RCN1 controller available during a high volume of wildfires and brush fires in our area. (using the Alientech Duo-3 antenna/amp assisted in range, nothing like they claim, but definitely an improvement).
Tip: Alientech sells a “bar” adapter that replaces the removable antennas and provides 2x QMA external RF connectors. I also made up 2 sets of “extension cables” to allow us to mount the Alientech Duo-3 to a tripod to get the extra height. 8’ and 15’ length / RG-400 for the 8’ and RG-223 for the 15’ cables. The Alientech Duo-2 and Duo-3 have a 1/4x20 threaded mount on the bottom and mounts directly to the “adapter bar” device (only $80 bucks - much easier and less expensive than opening up an RC-Pro and modifying to add external RF connectors)
In addition to the Alientech stuff, we purchased Lifthor brand tripod mounting kits. They are impressive quality devices and offer a “quick release” that permits the use of a tripod to hold the controller. Ideal for public safety or inspection use.
Sorry.. gadget advertisement over, LOL -back to the critical problem…
In the system settings, the FW version now shows it’s one version newer than the still functioning RC-Plus.
I tried to “restore” the controller under the system settings of the controller. No luck.
I also tried using DJI Assistant to reflash the controller with the same FW version that it was running prior to the update.
(there is a site that archives all of the DJI firmware files for most products). No luck with this either.
So, we are really stuck.
Is there any type of tool or utility that would allow us to “clone” the system from the second and still functioning RC-Plus? I’m Android clueless, but in the Windows world, there are tools that will allow you to “clone” bare metal running system o/s installation and whatever additional data/applications/etc is desired.
I’d also gladly pay for tech assistance from anyone with the skills to help me to get this functioning again.
I gave the dept my RC-Pro to use until I get the problem resolved. I feel just awful and need to correct my error.
Thanks in advance!
